Jean Monnet Project
E U R e f
Reforming the Eurozone: a critical discussion
One of the major debates of the last ten years concerns the reform of the Eurozone governance. Not only this issue has been debated several times at the level of both political and civil society, but it has produced a vast academic literature and contributions from authoritative think-tanks. Recently, three main issues resulted as crucial to that debate: 1) a hardly reconcilable alternative between market discipline and risk sharing among the member countries; 2) the opposition between those who call for a mutualisation of the member States’ debts, and those who want to introduce a new stabilization found; and 3) the need to increase the provision of European collective goods and European investments vs the conservation of the current system (or, for others, the attempt to attribute to national government more flexibility with respect to European parameters), in an intergovernmental decision-making framework. Each of these alternatives implies a different idea of what the Eurozone should be, having a significant political relevance that needs to be publically debated and explained within academies, schools, and civil society.
The project “Reforming the Eurozone: a critical discussion” (EUREF) aims 1) to promote a deep academic discussion in Italy on the most critical arguments inside this huge debate; 2) to enhance, among students, the knowledge about the Eurozone and its functioning and problems; 3) to involve civil society in the debate, offering them the tools to understand it and to grasp its relevance.
These objectives will be realized through the following activities:
- A) Five seminars on five different aspect of the Eurozone’s possible reform which will be organized at the University of Roma Tre (Rome), the University of Salento (Lecce), the University of Naples Federico II (Naples); the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Modena) and the University of Milano (Milano).
- B) Five round tables organized around the topics introduced by Fabio Masini in Riformare l’Euro. Idee e proposte per l’Europa del futuro (Giubilei Regnani, Roma 2018). These round tables will involve policymakers, experts, scholars and civil society in five different cities: Roma, Lecce, Napoli, Modena and Milano.
- C) Three “European Alphabetization Days” – in Milan, Rome and Lecce – which shall involve schools and civil society in the debate on the Eurozone, giving them – with the assistance of the virtual learning platform Link identifier #identifier__51721-1awareu.eu – the tools to continue to study and deepen these issues at home.
- D) Eight Conferences in the schools of the Lazio Region, aimed at introducing students to the history and functioning of the Eurozone.
* Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, some of the activities had to be rethought from scratch; please have a look at the page ‘ Activities’.
The project finished in March 2021. For any query, please do not hesitate to contact the Academic Coordinator, Prof. Fabio Masini: fabio.masini@uniroma3.it